3.03k reviews for:

Solaris

Stanisław Lem

3.76 AVERAGE

alleseter's review against another edition

3.0

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De roman die twee prachtige en mij dierbare films heeft opgeleverd, blijkt zelf behoorlijk af te wijken van beide.

Spoiler

Van scènes op aarde is geen sprake, noch van berichten over het station, noch van een oproep van Gibarian. Kris Kelvin lijkt in het boek dus niet op een speciale missie, maar eerder een gewone aflossing. Het boek deelt ook de vage eindes van die van de films niet. Aan het eind is Rheya voorgoed verdwenen en loopt Kris verloren rond op één van de Solaris' gigantische creaturen.

Het boek besteedt vooral heel veel aandacht aan het mysterie dat Solaris is: één grote buitenaardse levende oceaan met het vermogen om gigantische structuren te bouwen, materie te creëren en de natuurwetten te tarten. De focus van de roman ligt dan ook niet bij de problemen van de bemanning, maar bij het menselijk onvermogen om iets dergelijks exotisch te bevatten en te verklaren. De planeet en zijn onbegrijpelijke fenomenen worden dan ook prachtig beschreven in de roman, vergelijkbaar met de al even onverklaarbare 'zone' in 'Bermtoeristen' ([b:Roadside Picnic|331256|Roadside Picnic|Arkady Strugatsky|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173812259s/331256.jpg|1243896]). Kelvins getormenteerde relatie met de kopie van zijn overleden vrouw Rheya lijkt daaraan ondergeschikt en van lange discussies met de andere twee bemanningsleden is maar weinig sprake.

vtrien's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It was a decent read, i found myself not really into the explanations of everything but super into the mystery elements, which is weird because i usually like the interesting explanations in sci-fi, but here not so much

jflemmin's review against another edition

3.0

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Another sci fi classic, focusing on how difficult it would be to truly make contact with another species. Honestly while I enjoyed it, I feel like a lot of the messaging went over my head.

milho's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

franci26's review against another edition

3.0

dark tense slow-paced

inkirbythefirst's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

verdigriss's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Very interesting concepts and world building, I also enjoyed the forays into philosophy. However the plot, such as it were, left me wanting. I would have appreciated some kind of resolution although I do understand that the point was that there often is no resolution in life. Overall very Slavic somehow — dour, drab, slow and vaguely depressing. I mean all of that in a positive way

carsickshark's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

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This book was a genuinely interesting look into the idea of science, faith, and morals that we face when on the brink of new discoveries. Morality becomes grey when faced with an entity unlike anything before and this book calls into question the rights and wrongs in scientific discoveries. I have no strong feelings one way or another in regards to the messaging I took away from this book but i enjoyed it a lot. However I feel like someone in a more scientific field would take more away than me. 

glaws96's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

palejester's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes